Identity Theft May Be on the Run!

Well it seems that the United States Justice Department is finally making a dent in Identity Theft and Identity Theft may soon be on the run! Some serious busts have been made on those who perpetuate these crimes and the FBI and other law enforcement agencies are indeed closing the gap with the help of credit card companies and fast-thinking and more educated consumers. This is a wonderful new turning point indeed.

The fight against Identity Theft really got a leg up on the criminals in 2003 when President Bush signed The Fair And Accurate Credit Transactions Act Of 2003 also known as the FACT Act. What this affectively did was set up a nationwide system to detect such fraud. What did this act do? Well it required merchants to stop re-producing the numbers on the credit card except for the last 5 numbers on receipts. Also a National Fraud Alert number was created for people to call immediately. And this is the act, which allows folks to get a free credit report from Credit Reporting Corporations.

In 2004 this was followed up with another law; The Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act. And this has allowed law enforcement to become more aggressive on these criminals and indeed this is part of the reason that the identity theft criminals are now on the run instead of the consumer victim. The Presidential Administration website states; “This act created a new crime of “aggravated identity theft” and added two years to prison sentences for criminals convicted of using stolen credit card numbers and other personal data to commit crimes.”

If we can stay tough on these identity theft criminals now and hunt them down like we are the International Terrorists, we many completely wipe them out. Right now they are on the run. But law enforcement is hot on their trail. Still you need to protect yourself and pay attention while the authorities do their jobs. Consider this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

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